Valley National Closes Sale & Leaseback Of 26 Properties

Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) closed the sale-and-leaseback deal for 26 out of the previously-announced 29 properties, for $100.5 million. The properties consisted of 25 branches and one corporate location.

The pre-tax net gain from these 26 properties is nearly $78 million (after transaction-related expenses). Valley National expects to complete the sale and leaseback of the remaining three properties in the second quarter of 2019, subject to due diligence. The company projects pre-tax net gain of more than $3 million from the remaining properties.

At the time of the deal’s announcement this February, Valley National had projected the above-mentioned decisions to be slightly accretive to its earnings over the first full year of the transactions. This will exclude severance charges likely to be incurred by the company.

Further, Valley National’s CFO, Alan Eskow, had stated that the properties identified in the sale-and-leaseback transaction are in sync with the company’s long-term strategic plan, as well as the previously-announced Branch Transformation. The company is aimed at achieving efficiency ratio of less than 51% by 2020 through Branch Transformation.

Valley National’s shares have lost 12.5% over the past six months compared with the industry’s decline of 11.4%.




Valley National currently carries Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Stocks to Consider

Atlantic Capital Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACBI) sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), at present. Its shares have gained 6.5%, over the past three months. Further, its earnings estimate for 2019 has been revised 4.6% upward, over the past 60 days. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Currently, Bank OZK (NASDAQ:OZK) carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Its shares have rallied 27.9%, in three month’s time. Moreover, its current-year earnings estimate has been revised nearly 1% upward, in 60 days’ time.

Camden National Corporation (NASDAQ:CAC) currently carries a Zacks Rank of 2. Its earnings estimate for the ongoing year has been revised 1.4% upward, over the past 60 days. Its shares have appreciated 18.4%, over the past three months.

Today's Best Stocks from Zacks

Would you like to see the updated picks from our best market-beating strategies? From 2017 through 2018, while the S&P 500 gained +15.8%, five of our screens returned +38.0%, +61.3%, +61.6%, +68.1%, and +98.3%.

This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. From 2000 – 2018, while the S&P averaged +4.8% per year, our top strategies averaged up to +56.2% per year.

See their latest picks free >>

Atlantic Capital Bancshares, Inc. (ACBI): Free Stock Analysis Report

Camden National Corporation (CAC): Free Stock Analysis Report

Valley National Bancorp (VLY): Free Stock Analysis Report

Bank OZK (OZK): Free Stock Analysis Report

Original post